Parentage: The claimed plant is an openly pollinated seedling selection which was found at a commercial ornamental plant nursery in Madison, Ohio. In 2009, a seedling with deep maroon foliage and an upright, conical growth habit was discovered amongst a plurality of Ilex hybrid cultivars growing in close proximity to one another in a display garden. Cultivars growing in the garden, and therefore the potential parent plants, include ‘Blue Princess’, ‘Blue Prince’, ‘Blue Girl’, ‘Blue Boy’, ‘Mesog’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,878), ‘Mesdob’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,803), ‘Mesid’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,685), and ‘Meschick’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,996). The true parentage of the claimed plant is not known but the presumed female parent is ‘Meschick’ due to similarities in growth habit and foliage characteristics. The seedling was isolated and grown to a mature size to confirm the distinctness and stability of the characteristics initially observed. After further evaluation and confirmation of the desirable traits, the claimed plant was finally selected for commercialization in 2016 and given the breeder denomination, ‘Madez’.
Asexual Reproduction: In 2009, ‘Madez’ was first asexually reproduced in Geneva, Ohio by way of softwood stem cuttings. The claimed plant was found to asexually reproduce in uniform and stable manner and 6 successive cycles of vegetative propagation have proven to be true to type.